This is a terrific discussion with my friends and Christian activists Coach Dave Daubenmire and Mike Heath–which we recorded Monday (January 25, 2015). We discuss the defeat in committee of the Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act. This bill, offered by State Rep. Mark Pody, would nullify the Supreme Court’s evil Obergefell decision “nationalizing” homosexuality-based “marriage.” As Coach writes about HERE and Matt Trewela writes about below, the TNMDA bill received only one vote in the Civil Justice subcommittee–thanks in part to the “cover” provided by Tennessee affiliate of Focus on the Family, FACT (Family Action of Tennessee), which came out against the bill.

I had not studied up on the politics surrounding the Natural Marriage Defense Act prior to this interview, but what I know from experience is that our pro-family movement has been plagued by a defeatist mindset for decades. In 2006, 81 percent of voters in the Volunteer State made their will clearly known–protecting marriage as it naturally is: between a man and a woman. Or so they thought–because nine years later, five unelected Supreme Court Justices–led by pro-homosexual advocate Anthony Kennedy–arrogantly disenfranchised them, creating another fictional, newfangled “constitutional right” (homosexuality-based “marriage”) fundamentally at odds with “Nature and Nature’s God.”

Desperate times call for bold measures–led by lawmakers like State Rep. Pody who are willing to buck political correctness and take back legislative authority for We the People. FACT prefers another lawsuit–despite the legal profession’s steadily increasing subservience to LGBT activist ideology. We will continue to follow closely the efforts of people in Tennessee and many other states to fight back against judicial supremacists, including those five SCOTUS justices who think they know better than God what marriage is. –Peter LaBarbera, AFTAH; @PeterLaBarbera [Watch this video on YouTube HERE.]

Matt Trewela writes:

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What happened in Tennessee? A bill to defend marriage killed by Christians and GOP

Watching a nation burn itself to the ground is a hard thing. Watching the cowardice of men while it is happening is even harder.

I always tell people that – “If you give politicians something less to do than what is needed and necessary – they’ll take it every time.” Such was the case in Tennessee.

The largest pro-family group in the state, Family Action Council of Tennessee (FACT), put all their time, energy, and money into defeating the bill of interposition introduced by Representative Mark Pody – a bill that would have interposed against the lawless Obergefell opinion by SCOTUS. The bill had 22 co-sponsors. [See the FACT response to Pody’s bill HERE and a flowchart explaining their lawsuit strategy HERE.]

FACT stated they planned to bring a lawsuit in court to oppose the Obergefell decision. They stated that if this bill of interposition passed it would ruin what they were planning to accomplish through the lawsuit. The Republican legislators, or more properly stated, the GOP leadership loved what FACT was saying in opposition to the bill and had the bill killed on Wednesday, January 20th, in the Republican-controlled committee before it could ever come before the full legislature.

The lawsuit is actually a bad idea as it has virtually no chance of success in the courts – as the courts have been the agents to promote the homosexual agenda nationwide. But more importantly, the lawsuit allows the evil of homosexual marriage to seep down into every fabric of Tennessee society, culture, law, and policy during the time it is being adjudicated.

This is why the homosexuals who gathered at the hearing on the bill of interposition were all nodding their heads in agreement with the leader of FACT while he spoke against the bill and lauded FACT’s proposed lawsuit. It was a telling sight watching the leader of a state-wide organization that exists to defend marriage speak against a bill that would defend marriage – and watch all the homosexual activists love what he was saying. They too understood that this would give time to “normalize” the perversion of homosex marriage in the culture.

But this is what has become to be known as the status quo. The status quo is the cozy arrangement the state-wide pro-family/pro-life organizations and the GOP have created for themselves across America. They cover each others backs and legitimize each others existence. It is a cabal that needs to be broken.

One thing the organizations do is conveniently provide that something less than what is needed and necessary for the GOP politicians so that they quell any outburst from their constituents who might think their action – well – is far less than what is needed.

The largest pro-family group in Tennessee and the GOP leadership – not the homosexual activists–killed the bill of interposition that would have defended marriage and defied a lawless federal judiciary.

The cowardice was rank as they spoke about how people might be harmed by the federal government if they resisted – loss of jobs; seizure of property, maybe even jail. It is amazing how we love to extol the virtues of those who went before us – sacrificing so that we could enjoy liberty, good law, and sound government. But we ourselves are not willing to sacrifice. We are stingy sots holding on to our goods and ease.

As Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn stated regarding the cowardice of his countrymen:

“Every man always has handy a dozen glib little reasons why he is right not to sacrifice himself.”

The faithful preacher from the last generation – Leonard Ravenhill – put it this way:

“Preachers make pulpits famous; prophets make prisons famous. The preacher will be heralded; the prophet hounded. We love the old saints, missionaries, martyrs, reformers: our Luthers, Bunyans, Wesleys, Asburys, etc. We will write their biographies, reverence their memories, frame their epitaphs, and build their monuments. We will do anything except imitate them. We cherish the last drop of their blood, but watch carefully the first drop of our own!”

Americans indifference to injustice and immorality in their nation is rooted in their love for materialism and ease.

Why do men not want to sacrifice? Why do men always go for less than what is needed and necessary? Because there are little white balls to hit; there are beaches to sit on; there are lattes and martinis to be sipped.

Americans and Christians will one day realize that they do not have the convenience of behaving indifferently to the unjust and immoral actions of their government.

Pastor Samuel Davies thundered over 200 years ago:

“Let our country, let religion, liberty and property, and all be lost, yet still they have their diversions. Luxury spreads her feast and unmans her effeminate guests.”

May the Lord teach us otherwise. May the Lord teach us faithfulness.

In closing – though some would like to kick us off the field (and we may have at times thought of walking off the field) – we do have more to come in Tennessee. Please continue to pray and act for the effort there.